


hit me (up)

by cherryicecreamsmile



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boxing, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, M/M, Teacher Liam, i guess, liam teaches harry how to box thats it thats the whole fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 16:30:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18525319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryicecreamsmile/pseuds/cherryicecreamsmile
Summary: the one where liam teaches harry some boxing





	hit me (up)

**Author's Note:**

> i blame liam payne's twitter, my schoolwork (that i'm currently procrastinating) and amanda (lirryonce on tumblr) for this. also the biggest thanks to rachel for reading this over <3

Liam is boxing when he feels somebody's eyes on him. He pauses and turns, pretending he needs to stretch his arms. Turns out he was right - there's a tall boy staring at him not very far away. Tall and lanky, with the top of his hair tied in a knot and the rest of it curling around a headband, he doesn't seem to be the type to box. Liam isn't one to judge though, and so far it seems like the boy wants to use the boxing bag he's currently hitting in hopes of tiring himself out enough to be able to fall asleep.

Exams have completely killed any day routine he kept during the semester - that's also why he's up and in the gym before six in the morning. It's not his usual time to visit the gym, maybe this boy boxes in the mornings? As wild as that sounds, he's seen lots of weirder things at uni, and this gym is rather small, with not much equipment (Liam doesn't mind though, situated close to campus and super cheap - he's not one to turn down a student discount) - 6 a. m. sounds like an ideal time to use the only boxing bag in there.

Maybe Liam is currently ruining this pretty stranger's routine, and it's all because he drank too much caffeine, and bullshitted his way through his music history essay in one night, then spent an hour tossing and turning in bed unable to sleep, so he packed his workout clothes and ended up here- And now he's definitely overthinking. And staring at the stranger who's looking back at him.

Liam coughs a little, breaking the staring contest. "Do you, um, want to use the bag?" he asks. That seems to pull the stranger from his trance.

"Ye- yeah, I guess," he answers and... blushes? His cheeks look a bit pinker than a minute ago. He also has that raspy deep kind of voice that's distracting enough for Liam to stop caring about why the stranger suddenly looks uncomfortable.

Liam steps away from the boxing bag and starts taking off his gloves, not before stealing one more glance at the stranger (he really is pretty, damn). "Enjoy, then! Sorry if I kept you from your workout - finals are punching my sleep schedule in the face more than I was punching this bag," he jokes.

Pretty stranger smiles too, which shows dimples in his cheeks (and he looks so soft and gentle, smiling there, so out of place in front of the dirty boxing bag). He mumbles something, but it's said quietly enough that Liam doesn't catch it properly and is afraid to ask him to repeat himself, especially when the thing Liam thinks he heard was "with those arms I'd happily let you punch my face too". Must have been his sleep-deprived brain entering the hallucinating phase.

As much as Liam doesn't want to be the creep staring at pretty boys work out - he might not look obviously queer, but that doesn't stop him from feeling scared he will somehow fuel the gay guys peering at other guys stereotype straight people use to put gay people in - he can't help himself and looks the punching bag's way before he decides how to continue his workout. Pretty boy is standing there, looking kind of lost, and also missing the two very important things for any person who wants to box.

He returns to the stranger, grabbing his gloves and his new handwrap (the one he hasn't used yet, mind you) on the way.

"I'm not a professional trainer or anything, but I feel like you need these if you want to punch that bag without hurting yourself." He smiles, hoping he comes across as friendly, and not like a weirdo who was watching from across the room and then decided to school somebody he saw for the first time not even ten minutes ago. The stranger returns the smile, looks at the ground while scratching his neck. He shakes his head and accepts the offered items.

"Yeah," Liam's starting to wonder if he can say more than yeah, "definitely need those." Okay, so he knows words. But with the hesitant way he's holding the gloves and the handwrap, Liam isn't so sure the stranger knows how to use them, at least not properly.

"Can you actually box?" Liam asks, more and more curious about this creature standing in front of him, now definitely blushing. Not that Liam minds, the boy looks cute with rosy cheeks.

Pretty boy's fingers pull on his lower lip when he shakes his head. "Um," he coughs, "I wanted to take it up actually, sometime. Seemed like a good time to start at the crack of dawn with nobody there to laugh at me failing," he explains.

And while Liam's train of thought went mostly in the  _ damn he is so cute when he blushes  _ way, he also got an idea. "Okay, not to sound weird or anything," he started, "but I could teach you a thing or two about boxing, I've been doing it since high school." He smiles and shrugs, as if offering boxing lessons was something he was doing on a regular basis.

"That- that actually sounds great," the stranger smiles back, "'m Harry." He offers Liam his hand, which he accepts and introduces himself to the pretty stranger - Harry. (Unable to ignore how big and soft Harry's hand is. Liam might have a crush. On a stranger from the gym. He's hopeless - a voice in his head sounding very much like his best mate Louis says.)

"I guess you don't know how to properly wrap your hands?" Liam tries. Harry shakes his head no. "I can wrap them for you," Liam offers. "Just so you won't hurt yourself with improperly wrapped hands - that would be a pretty bad start for my teaching career," he laughs, trying not to think much about how Harry put his hands towards Liam in the middle of his little speech. Harry smiles too - a new smile, one where only the right corner of his mouth rises up. Liam likes this one, he decides, while taking one of Harry's hands and covering it in handwrap. He bites his lip, unknowingly mirroring Harry, too concentrated on wrapping his hands to notice.

He decides to start with showing Harry a proper boxing stance and footwork. As much as Harry's trying his best to follow Liam's instructions, turns out he's clumsy. His limbs just don't cooperate - Liam has to catch him a few times right at the start when his attempt at the proper boxing stance goes terribly wrong.

What he lacks in coordination, he makes up in enthusiasm, though. "Didn't think I'd actually enjoy this boxing stuff," he mutters at one point. That confuses Liam a little bit - wasn't he saying he wanted to try it for a long time? But there's no time for him to dwell on that, since Harry is almost vibrating in front of him, ready to practise the punch he just watched Liam explain. "Am I doing it right?"

He's not. His hips are not turned, Liam explains. Harry doesn't seem to understand him, though - he keeps turning in every way but the right one. Liam sighs quietly. It's been almost an hour of him touching Harry's (very firm, very sweaty, but overall very nice - may he say) body, while trying to either put him into the right position or to stop him from falling and hurting himself. He doesn't know how much more of touching the attractive boy will he be able to handle, yet he puts his hands on Harry's hips and moves them. "There you go," he smiles at Harry when he turns and looks at him.

"Harry!"

Harry's returning smile freezes at the sound of a female voice calling his name. He bites his lip and turns towards the group of girls exiting one of the smaller rooms in the gym. One of them approaches Harry. "Where have you been?" she asks and continues while reaching for a hug. "We missed you."

Liam is left staring at them hugging. These girls probably had a yoga class, if the yoga mats are anything to go by. But why are they greeting (and some of them hugging) Harry? How do they even know him?

Liam stays quiet until they leave, but after that, he can't stop himself from asking. "Um, Harry?" The boy in question turns towards him. "Who were those girls? Do you have a fan club in there?" he tries to joke to cover his confusion. (Or maybe jealousy. Can he be jealous over girls hugging the pretty boy he had to himself for the past hour? The Louis-like voice in his head tells him he's acting like a little schoolgirl.)

Harry looks at his toes, unfortunately for him, the headband and hair tie doesn't let anything but a few loose curls fall down. Liam thinks Harry used to have longer hair, that way looking down would hide the blush growing (again) on his cheeks. "That was my yoga class," he mutters.

That is when Liam's sleep-deprived mind catches up and connects all the details. Louis tells him often that he's blind towards any signals of attraction anybody sends his way but this might be his record. "You didn't really come to box, am I right?" he smirks when Harry's cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. "You know, I was about to offer you some more boxing classes," Harry's head jumps up at that, "but after that show I apparently did for you before I noticed you," Harry's smile turns sheepish, and he bites his lip - Liam kinda wants to bite that lip too, but he continues talking, "I think I deserve some payback for that, a coffee maybe? Decaf though, and maybe after I sleep for a bit, exams really are a bitch."

Harry laughs, that relieved kind of exhale that comes with a small sound, and nods. "Sounds fair. Think I might need your number for that, hm?"

And Liam would be lying if he said he wasn't more than happy to give Harry his phone to put his number in.

He would also be lying if he said he didn't smile stupidly at the text he received just a few minutes after throwing himself into his bed.

from: **pretty admirer ;-)  
** _ Heard I owe you a coffee? H. xx _   
  


**Author's Note:**

> come yell @ me @ hoe-rry.tumblr.com


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